The Neighborhood Suitable for the Sex Industry in Quito: The Mutable Object and the Adaptive City

Abstract

The evolution of the city of Quito had its apogee in the middle of the 20th Century, breaking up its structured historical center and expanding toward its geographical edges. Since the 1970s, the industrial infrastructure that predominates in the northern part of the city has also become home to the sex industry. As a mutable object, the typology of the motel is inserted in an environment that allows it to modify and transform the industrial district, surrounded by the contrasting residential zones.
This article analyzes the interaction between the urban form of this section of the city and the neighborhood life produced by the motel. The Motel Neighborhood is analyzed through its historical and normative development, as well as through its urban and morphological qualities.